Lions Club sets sights on used eye wear

YORKTON – Students at Yorkdale Central School presented members of the Yorkton Lions Club with two boxes full of used eyeglasses to be distributed internationally.

"It's been ongoing for years," said Vern Brown of the YLC, about the project.

"We gather them up for two or three years and then send them all to Regina, and then they're distributed from there," said Brown.

The glasses go to the Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre.  “CLERC provides recycled eye wear free of charge to people in developing countries,” according to a statement on the official website, CLERC.ca.  

"It was a project that I thought our SRC (Student Representative Council) could get involved in," said Dennis Nesseth, Principal at YCS, adding, “there was a bit of a slow start because I don't think people knew exactly what this was about, but then it got momentum and now we have two very heavy boxes full of glasses, which is great."

Students were also happy to participate.

"I thought it was cool, our school has been doing a few things like that [this year],” said Samantha Prybylski, student at YCS and member of the SRC.

“We’ve got quite a few [sets of eyeglasses],” said Prybylski, adding, “now they’re getting sent all over the world.”

The school isn’t the only one participating in the gathering of glasses, local optometrists are contributing as well.

“In Yorkton, I think all of the optometrists have drop off boxes, and then we pick them up from there," said Brown, adding, “we almost have a semi-load when we get it all together.”

“There’s always somebody in the world that can use a pair of glasses,” said Allan Konkin of the Yorkton Lions, adding, “it’s an ongoing project and a very worthwhile project.”

For more information on how to contribute, visit CLERC's website.